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feel like urinating but can't

my 14 year old lindsey is in the hospital now after a spinal fusion, shes drinking a lot but having trouble peeing. the feeling is there but she can't go. shes only been a few times.
is this normal compared to everyone elses surgery? aug 4th was the fusion.
jennie

my daughter had something similar

Hello:

This urinating thing was really bothersome for my daughter when she was in the hospital, too (I think at about day 4 post-op). She would feel like she really needed to go, but not much would happen by the time she got to the bathrom. Not only was it frustrating, it also was painful because she had to get up and down out of bed so much. Our hospital ran a UTI test, which came back negative, so I just wondered if this was some sort of "overactive bladder" thing perhaps caused by the catheter, or even the narcotics.

the nurse just mentioned this. she doesnt think so because it doesnt hurt when she goes. shes drinking a lot but i think her body is using it because shes so thirsty.

Be careful of this. When I was pregnant with my son, I became very, very ill. The ob/gyn was not doing the regular uti tests because I had no pain on urination. When I came in almost unable to drive, he did a catheterization, immediately went to the microscope and came back saying he had never seen such an infection before (i.e. so many white blood cells). He wanted to hospitalize me immediately.

It may very well not be a uti, however, the lack of pain is not 100% reliable.

Our hospital ran a UTI test, which came back negative, so I just wondered if this was some sort of "overactive bladder" thing perhaps caused by the catheter, or even the narcotics.

Luckily, this all resolved itself, and fairly quickly.

Yes, "scratching" the wall of the bladder with the catheter during surgery can leave you with this feeling. There are oral meds for it now available OTC (of course in hospital, you want to work thru med personnel there).

There are MANY conditions that can cause it from urodynamic to infectious to spinal cord (and I've had the fun of all of them, sometimes simultaneously! )

From what I've heard, it's most important in hospital to keep that " wheel squeaking" so your daughter gets this and all issues attended to. It's not a time to be a submissive people pleaser - easier for you to avoid since you're advocating for your daughter. I think if you keep "squeaking", you're more apt to get attention if only because your concern will have been documented. Then, if it turns out to be "something", they look bad for discounting it. (So make sure they write down your requests!)

Considering/cheapness of a culture (of course, in hospital it will probably cost dozens of time what it ought ), that certainly shouldn't be neglected - or even more than one over time. Be sure it's "clean catch". Someone has to be sure it's done right!

And OTC meds to treat her "urgency" shouldn't be ignored either, even if there's no infection. That's because NOTHING avoidable (so much is NOT) should be allowed to interfere with her rest.

Keep advocating for her, Mom. She needs you now most of all. Having to "go" all the time is a short track to going nuts - I remember this from multiple experiences. It can be truly intolerable, even in the midst of terrible pain.

My daughter experienced this as well after they removed her catheter. She drank and drank, but just couldn't pee. They ended up putting the catheter back in and emptying her bladder because it had become so full. Once her bladder was emptied, they removed the catheter and she didn't have any problems after that.

Good luck.

Mary Lou

Mom to Jamie age 21-diagnosed at age 12-spinal fusion 12/7/2004-fused from T3-L2; and Tracy age 19, mild Scoliosis-diagnosed at age 18.

This happened to me with my original surgery years ago. They had to put the catherer back in (can't remember if it was for a few hours or a day) and when removed again, I was fine. I had surgery for something else (female issue) and I had the same thing happen. From my experience, it was just uncomfortable and frustrating. Hope your daughter is doing better. LYNN